World Series: Giants might have more championships in them

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2012 at 8:53 AM

DETROIT - Bruce Bochy's office off a hallway in the visitors' clubhouse at Comerica Park overflowed with people at 1 a.m. yesterday. The World Series trophy, secured less than two hours before, rested on a small table in the corner. Visitors, holding beers and soaked in champagne, ducked in and out.

DETROIT — Bruce Bochy’s office off a hallway in the visitors’ clubhouse at Comerica Park overflowed with people at 1 a.m. yesterday. The World Series trophy, secured less than two hours before, rested on a small table in the corner. Visitors, holding beers and soaked in champagne, ducked in and out.

“I’m numb, really, the fact that we’ve won two World Series in the last three years,” Bochy said after his San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers. Given his stumbling answers to fawning questions about his own place in the game — more championships than Bobby Cox or Davey Johnson, the only active manager besides Terry Francona with two — numb sounded about right.

But baseball has now woken up to the Giants. They finished their season on a seven-game winning streak that showed not only the bond they built this fall, but the franchise they have built for the future.Even so, no one in the clubhouse was predicting more titles in coming years. “In this game, a couple injuries here and there and that’s the end of it,” pitching coach Dave Righetti said.But there was and is a quiet confidence about what just transpired, and what might come next.

“You never know what’s going to happen, performance from year to year,” said general manager Brian Sabean, standing just outside Bochy’s office. “How you start or finish the season, or injuries or what-not. We’re happy that a lot of these guys are going to go forward with us. We’ll certainly try to get some of the free agents to be back. We’re sitting in a good spot.”

He said it not brashly, but almost sheepishly. That appears to be the Giants’ way: Quiet is just fine, though it might not be realistic in the future.

“I don’t think we’re off the radar anymore, which will present its obstacles,” catcher Buster Posey said. “But I think it’s a challenge that we’re all looking forward to.”

The challenge will be met by a group of players who figure to be around awhile. The Giants completed their sweep of the Tigers when Marco Scutaro hit a two-out single that scored Ryan Theriot in the top of the 10th inning on Sunday night. Both of those players, infielders, are free agents. Veteran reliever Jeremy Affeldt, who recorded five key outs in Game 4, is also unsigned for next year, as are fellow reliever Guillermo Mota and center fielder Angel Pagan.

But there is so much else in place. Posey is 25, the presumptive National League MVP after he won a batting title, and has won two World Series in his first three years in the majors. No central character has done that since Derek Jeter in 1996 and ’98. And Posey did it while handling a pitching staff that became the backbone of the seven straight wins to close the postseason.

Posey was the starting catcher in the All-Star Game. The starting pitcher was right-hander Matt Cain, who also started Game 4 of the World Series. Cain is 28 and signed through 2017, with a team option for the following season. Madison Bumgarner, who started and won Game 2, is 23 and already signed through 2017 as well, with two option years. Pablo Sandoval, the Series MVP, is just 26 and is now beginning to understand what he can do if he keeps his weight under control. Shortstop Brandon Crawford and first baseman Brandon Belt are coming off promising rookie seasons, just 25 and 24, respectively. Right fielder Hunter Pence, 29, is signed for at least one more year.

And leading the way will be Bochy, once cast off by San Diego, now embraced by San Francisco.